STEP 5 (THE DIFFERENTIATION STEP): NAME THE STUDENTS WHO EXCELLED AND THOSE WHO STILL NEED ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE. IDENTIFY, IMPLEMENT, AND EVALUATE IN-CLASS ENRICHMENTS AND INTERVENTIONS.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This step of the CFIP protocol will occur in a later team meeting, after teachers have had the opportunity to implement the actions they identified in Step 4.

At this step, team members dig deeper into the data to focus on the progress of individual students after re-teaching and to decide the response of the team. Students at both ends of the achievement distribution — those ready for enrichment and those requiring individualized interventions — should be considered.

Team members should begin this step by analyzing individual student results to name the students who are learning the targeted skills and knowledge at a high level. This dialogue should become the basis for discussions about regrouping within or across classes so that enrichments can be put in place that will continue to challenge these students.

Team members should continue their analysis of individual student-level data by naming those students who are not being successful in acquiring the targeted knowledge and skills despite re-teaching.

Areas of weakness should lead to the exploration by the team of in-class interventions to put in place. Possibilities for short-term, skill-based re-grouping within or across classes should be considered.

Questions such as the following should be used:

Who is consistently achieving at a high level?

How will we enrich and extend the learning of our highly-successful students?

Who still needs additional assistance to attain proficiency in the targeted skills or knowledge?